


A Wish Your Heart Makes

by sunsetmagnolia



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, M/M, also calum's family kinda, luke's family is in it kinda, nonbinary michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmagnolia/pseuds/sunsetmagnolia
Summary: “No need to thank me, gorgeous, just go to your ball and have fun.”“But how will the carriage fit through the fence?” Luke asked.“Oh, what, do I have to do everything?” Michael asked, floating the whole scene, horse and all, over the fence and gently to the ground on the other side. “Final touch,” they said, and Luke’s shoes started to shine, not with magic but with glitter.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	A Wish Your Heart Makes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [expectopatronuz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/expectopatronuz/gifts).



> Once again thanks to [Maggie](https://calumsclifford.tumblr.com/) for the inspiration!! Also shout out to [Heath](https://tigerteeff.tumblr.com/) for planting the idea of nb!Michael in my head, I cannot apologize for where it led lmao

Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom nestled in the hills. It was picturesque and prosperous, and rich in culture and history. In that kingdom, in a stately manor, lived a widowed man and his son, Luke. He worked his hardest to raise his son and give him everything he could ever want, but he felt Luke needed a mother’s care, and so he married a woman who had two sons of her own, about Luke’s age. It wasn’t until after the man’s untimely death, however, that the woman’s true nature was revealed. She knew her late husband’s fortune was left in equal parts to her and his son, so in order to entrust her own sons with the riches she felt they deserved, she tortured her stepson needlessly. She would never be the one to admit she was jealous of her stepson’s beauty and easy charm, the latter of which was a trait her own sons did not possess.

As time went by, the manor fell into disarray as the family fortune was squandered away on the vanity of the two stepbrothers, while Luke was ordered about until he felt like a servant in his own house. From cleaning the floors and walls to running errands for his stepmother that she deemed beneath her, Luke was left doing most of the work that kept the house in any semblance of function. And yet, through it all, he did his best to stay kind and optimistic, the way his father had taught him to be.

Luke awoke with the birds, who seemed to sing to him every morning in a way they didn’t care to do for anyone else. It was a bit of a shame. It was a lovely morning, but he’d been dreaming of castles and princes and places far away. No matter; Luke stretched, got up, and started singing softly to himself as he got ready for the day. The birds gathered on the windowsill to sing along.

No sooner was he done preparing breakfast than everyone in the house wanted his attention all at once. With all the skills of a waiter, he carried three trays of breakfasts up the stairs to three separate bedrooms, and in each one he was given a chore that just had to be done that instant. Ben wanted his clothes ironed, Jack needed things mended, his stepmother gave him a load of her washing, and Luke just nodded and took it all back downstairs, one basket on top of another.

As soon as he got to the bottom of the stairs, he heard yelling. He put the baskets down and ran back up the stairs in time to see Jack stomping into his mother’s room. Ben poked his head out of his bedroom. “What did you do this time?” he asked, frowning. Luke had no idea, but he would certainly be blamed for it. Ben followed his brother into their mother’s room, and then, on cue: “Luke!”

Ben and Jack walked out of the bedroom, smug grins on both their faces as Luke tried his best to ignore them and walked in, closing the door behind him. “You have time for practical jokes?” his stepmother asked him.

“I didn’t do any—”

“Be quiet,” she snapped. She poured herself a cup of tea and took a long sip. “If you have so much extra time on your hands, the large rug in the main hall needs cleaning. And the windows upstairs are looking drab. Wash them. And don’t forget to tend the garden, sweep the terrace, the halls, the stairs…” About then, Luke stopped listening. He knew his jobs, and he knew exactly how to do them. The more he listened, the more upset he would get, and if he didn’t have time to play a prank on his stepbrothers he definitely didn’t have time to mope about his chores. He waited until she was done with her list and nodded and left, doing his best not to bow the way a servant would.

Luke didn’t know what it was all for sometimes, it’s not like he had anything left to work for, but he also had nowhere to go if he left. He returned to the baskets of clothes in varying states of distress downstairs, starting the laundry before sitting down at the sewing machine to take care of the mending. It was menial and boring, but at least it was quiet and no one was yelling at him. At least not until lunch.

Calum was sitting in on a family meeting that he had no reason to be there for, except that he was technically part of the family. His sister was as stubborn as their father, but for once it seemed like there was no way one of them didn’t back down. His father almost pushed everything off the table in front of him before settling for just slamming his fists down. “You have been avoiding your responsibilities for long enough! It’s high time you got married and settled down!”

“I don’t want to get married,” his sister insisted, crossing her arms.

“You don’t have a choice anymore! I gave you two years to find someone yourself and you’ve done nothing but chase away every eligible man to come your way.”

“Eligible men,” she scoffed. “You mean all those princes and lords who wave around their money like it’s their best quality? They don’t have any personalities for themselves, take away their titles and what do they have left?” Calum thought she had a point, but he was too busy trying not to be dragged into the argument to take her side. It wasn’t like she couldn’t stand up for herself.

“Mali, you are heir to the throne. Neither of us is walking out that door until we reach an agreement!”

Calum saw his sister cut her eyes across to the windows and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing.

Their father pursed his lips. “I’m giving you one last chance to choose. We’ll have a ball at the end of the week, and I’ll invite every single man in the kingdom if I have to, and you can either pick someone then, or I will choose for you.”

“A ball? You expect me to dance all night until I fall in love with someone?”

“I expect you to take love out of the equation if that’s what it takes.”

“That’s not fair!”

“That’s how it will be! Now go get fitted for a new gown, I’m sure you’ll want to look your best.”

“I’ll wear my nightgown.”

“You can wear whatever you want,” their father said calmly.

Mali glowered at him until he nodded at the steward at the door to let her leave. She stormed away. Calum got up to follow her out, but his father cleared his throat. “Try to talk some sense into her,” he said to Calum. Calum nodded, knowing perfectly well that talking her into an arranged marriage was not part of his plans for the future.

Luke had moved on from the laundry to the halls, where he was mopping and shining the floors til they glistened and glowed. His stepbrothers were out in the back garden, likely wrestling each other to the ground while their mother tolerated their noise as she sunned herself. He could hear them insulting each other through the windows. He tried to sing to himself to drown out the sounds, knowing that if he sang too loud, he would be chastised for not working hard enough.

When he heard a knock on the door, he tiptoed across the newly shiny floor and opened it to see a stout man wearing a royal crest. “An urgent message from His Majesty,” said the man, handing Luke an envelope.

“Thank you,” Luke said, but the man was already disappearing down the end of the drive.

Luke examined the envelope – royal seal and all – and decided if it was urgent, then he should probably interrupt his stepmother’s sunning to see that she got it.

When Luke walked out the back door, he was almost slammed by Jack, who’d been pushed by Ben. He turned around so they couldn’t see him roll his eyes and walked over to his stepmother to hand her the envelope. “This had better be important for you to abandon your chores.” She glared at him as she tore it open. As soon as his stepbrothers noticed she was paying attention to him, they almost tripped over themselves to see what it was about. “Well,” she said, surprised. “This weekend, there is to be a ball.”

“A ball?” Ben and Jack looked at each other skeptically.

“In honor of her highness, the princess.”

“The princess?” They sounded more excited.

“And by royal command, every eligible man is required to attend.”

“I’m eligible!” Ben said.

“And I’m a man,” Jack said, punching Ben in the stomach. Ben looked offended as he swung for Jack and missed. Jack started cackling.

“That means I can go too,” Luke said.

“You?” Ben started laughing before his stepmother could say anything.

“You think you’re going to dance with the princess?” Jack asked.

“You think _you’re_ going to dance with the princess?” Ben asked Jack, earning himself another punch.

“Boys, calm down,” their mother said.

“Why not?” Luke asked. “I’m a member of the family, and it says ‘by royal command’ so I have to go. It’s the law.”

His stepmother looked down at the paper in her hands and then back up at him, no smile on her face. “Of course you can go.” His stepbrothers started to protest. “If you can finish your chores on time, and if you can find something suitable to wear.”

Luke was surprised, and had no interest in dancing with the princess, but he couldn’t leave the opportunity now that he had it. “Thank you,” he said quickly, and walked back inside.

“Mother, do you realize what you just said?” he heard Jack ask through the open windows.

“Of course,” she replied. “I said ‘if.’”

And his stepbrothers started laughing.

Luke retreated to his room as soon as he finished cleaning the hall. He pulled an old chest out of his closet and opened it up. It still smelled like the cologne his father always used to wear. He pushed aside some old pictures, pausing for a moment to admire the one of his father and mother from before he was born, and then pulled out his father’s second best suit. It wouldn’t fit him as it was, he would definitely have to alter it… Within minutes his name was being called across the house. The suit would just have to wait.

Luke was being handed more clothing than he knew his stepbrothers owned and insisting it all had to be fixed by the end of the week. He would have thought the ball would last a whole month with the amount of pants he would be hemming for the rest of time. “And when you’re done with your regular chores, I have a few extra things for you to do as well,” his stepmother had said. Luke was altering clothes, but not his own. At this rate, he wouldn’t have time to fix his own suit unless he stayed up all night for the rest of the week.

Despite it all, Luke did find time to alter his suit, and his stepmother was furious when she found out. “I finished all my chores and all the extra ones you gave me, and you said I could go if I did all that.”

“You don’t have anything to wear,” she snipped.

“I do!” Luke insisted.

“Fine. Help your brothers get ready and then you can come with us.”

Luke did as he was told, and after having to try his hardest for half an hour not to stick his stepbrothers with pins as they bragged about how they were each going to be the princess’s favorite (god help her), he finally ran to his own room to get dressed. What he saw there was his suit in tatters, a pair of scissors strewn on the floor, and his stepmother out on the hall, looking entirely unsurprised when he came back not dressed.

“Have you come to your senses and decided you’re not coming with us?” she asked mockingly. Luke didn’t answer, too busy biting his tongue to hold back his spite. He watched from the window as the three of them piled into a carriage to take them to the palace. After all, a ball might not be all that people said. It might be dull and boring… or it might be wonderful.

Luke trudged back to his room, somewhere between rage and sadness, and a small part of him thought maybe he could fix the suit and go anyway. One look at the state of his floor, shreds of fabric everywhere, and that hope disappeared into thin air. Even if he could manage to assemble it back into the shape of any article of clothing, there was no way he could fix it in time for the ball. Tears of frustration pricking at his eyes, he went back to the old chest and pulled out the photo of his parents. Seeing his father’s smiling face beside all the tatters of his old clothes was the breaking point. Next thing he knew, he was sobbing into his hands, back against the chest. A row of birds sat on his windowsill, looking sadly at him. He almost wished they could speak.

“Please stop crying?” a voice said. Luke looked up at the birds, but they certainly couldn’t talk to him. Could they? Of course not, that was ridiculous. Luke sniffled and looked back down at the photo and went to tuck it back into the chest and then jumped back when he realized there was a person sitting on it. Well, a person with gossamer wings. If he wasn’t so startled, he would have started crying all over again.

“You know, if all hope was lost, I wouldn’t be here?”

“Are you… a fairy?” Luke ventured a guess. Between the silvery wings and the magic wand, it felt like a safe bet. The fairy nodded, looking proud. “My fairy godmother?”

“Your one and only fairy god _parent_ , thank you. My name is Michael, and I am here to make you less pathetic so you can go to the ball and swoon over the princess, or whatever it is you humans do at a ball.”

“Less pathetic?” Luke asked. Michael raised an eyebrow, as if Luke shouldn’t question it. Luke looked around, he was sitting on the floor of his closet after all, with no other options if he really wanted to go to the ball. He looked back up at Michael. “What are you going to do?”

“What _aren’t_ I going to do?” Michael said, pulling Luke up to his feet and out into his room, inspecting him. Michael seemed to float a few inches off the ground, feet never touching the floor as they walked – hovered? – around him. “I suppose these are the leftovers of your clothes?” They gestured to the floor and Luke sighed. “Your stepmother’s a real bitch, huh?”

Luke wasn’t sure whether it was worse to argue with a fairy or to be unkind and possibly disappoint his father. He settled for a shrug. Michael stopped in front of him.

“Well, you can’t go to the ball looking like _that_.”

Luke wasn’t sure whether he should be offended. Michael flicked their wand and Luke’s clothes were replaced with a suit that felt tailored to him, like he’d made it himself. Not only was it better fitted, it was also more in line with the current style. On top of that, there was a subtle stripe to the fabric that looked like there was glitter woven into it. Luke was marveling at the shimmer when Michael said something about a pumpkin and rushed out of the room.

Luke followed them out the door, downstairs and outside to the back of the house, where Michael was waiting for him impatiently. “Don’t look at me like that, you can fly a lot faster than I can run,” Luke panted, catching his breath. “What did you say about a pumpkin?”

“You need a way to get to the ball, don’t you?” Michael grinned and pointed at a large pumpkin sitting at the edge of the garden.

“And I’m supposed to—”

“Shush.” Michael waved their wand and the pumpkin began to grow. Luke took a nervous step back. The pumpkin grew and grew until it was the size of a carriage; one more flick of the wand and the orange pumpkin exterior melted away, revealing a bright white shell of a carriage with big wheels and what looked like velvet seats.

“Wow,” Luke breathed.

“Oh, you don’t have horses, do you?” Michael asked. Luke shook his head. “Hmm.”

“We have birds?”

“As fun as it would be to have you fly to the ball—” Luke’s eyes widened. “—that would be calling a lot of attention to yourself and I feel like that’s not really what you want. Oh a dog!”

“A dog?” Luke repeated. He didn’t have a dog. In a flash, Michael was at the fence, where the neighbor’s dog was sticking his nose through the bars. “Oh, that’s Bruno. He’s not ours though.”

“That’s okay, we’re just borrowing him.” Michael waved their wand and Bruno floated up over the fence, pawing at the air when he suddenly realized he was not touching the ground. As soon as he was on this side of the fence, he started to grow like the pumpkin had, and then in a flurry of magic, he was a horse.

Luke walked up to Bruno and petted his nose. He could swear Bruno looked confused. “You look great,” Luke said to him, trying to be comforting. Bruno seemed to relax.

“You’ll need a coachman. That one can be a bird.” Before Luke could protest, Michael was waving over at the birds who had gathered to watch the commotion, and one of them transformed into a human. There was something a bit off about the man, quickly evident when he opened his mouth to speak and still sounded very much like a bird. “Oh,” Michael said. “I’m not great with human magic. You’ll just have to be quiet for a while.”

“This is all—”

“No need to thank me, gorgeous, just go to your ball and have fun.”

“But how will the carriage fit through the fence?” Luke asked.

“Oh, what, do I have to do everything?” Michael asked, floating the whole scene, horse and all, over the fence and gently to the ground on the other side. “Final touch,” they said, and Luke’s shoes started to shine, not with magic but with glitter.

Luke caught his reflection in the window of the carriage as he climbed in. “I’m dreaming,” he said to himself.

“Not quite, but like a dream, this will all end.”

“What?”

“At the stroke of midnight, all of this goes back to the way it was. Carriage to pumpkin, new clothes to old.”

“Oh.” Luke was nervous and grateful all at once.

“But that’s hours away. Bruno is a fast horse. And now you’ll be fashionably late.” Michael smiled and poked one of Luke’s dimples with their finger.

“Thank you,” Luke said. Michael just smiled and waved him away as the carriage started to roll.

The ball had only been going for an hour, but Calum was already tired. He wasn’t tired of dancing, he was just tired of having to stay there for no reason. Usually, he would conspire with his sister to make it a little more exciting, but she was busy sweeping around the room with one of her ladies in waiting, the two of them giggling and whispering about the men who approached her to ask for a dance. To her credit, she humored them all. She didn’t get through a full dance with any one man before someone else was trying to cut in, and Calum wished he could save her from them. Not that she needed saving, but she’d saved him from so many awkward situations before, it felt like the least he could do. But his father was watching her like a hawk, and he wasn’t about to be the cause of yet another argument between them.

More and more “eligible young men” were walking through the doors, and Calum decided he might as well take a look around. Maybe he would meet someone who wasn’t daft or boring, or maybe he would just sneak out to where he knew the food was being kept and sneak a dessert.

Luke’s carriage stopped in front of the palace, where a long red carpet was rolled out down the stairs to lead him to the ballroom. The guards lining the walk eyed him as he passed, and it only made him more nervous. Luke entered the ballroom and immediately saw his stepbrothers tripping over each other in front of the princess. He rolled his eyes and stayed close to the wall as he watched. The princess was gracious as she could be, but her polite smile turned into a grimace, and then to a curt nod to the men and a giggle to her friend as she moved right past them. Luke couldn’t hold back a quiet laugh. All this drama at home from the two of them, and for what? A nod? Not even a word exchanged between them.

He quickly realized that if he wasn’t set on impressing the princess, there wasn’t much else for him to do. No one else was dancing, since everyone was either fawning over the princess or they were chaperones. There was only so much time he could spend staring out the windows at the roses outside before he realized, if he wasn’t having fun, he might as well leave. Luke was inching his way along the wall, eyes on his stepbrothers, when he bumped into someone.

“Sorry!” Luke said, starting to stumble as he took a step back.

“No, it’s okay,” the other man said, reaching a hand out to steady him. “I’m Calum.”

“Like the prince?”

Calum smiled. “Like that, yeah. Are you here to try and win the favor of the princess as well?”

“No.”

“No?” Calum asked.

Luke looked out into the crowd, finding her easily. “No, she’s beautiful but she’s not really my type.”

“Too good for the princess, are you?” Calum joked, and Luke felt himself blush.

“I’m more of a prince kind of person.”

Calum blinked at him and then held out his hand. “Come with me?” Luke took his hand and followed as Calum led him to the gardens right outside the ballroom. There were the roses, big and beautiful, lining the hedge that could be seen from the ballroom windows, but just beyond that, tucked out of sight, was a sprawling green lined with beds of colorful flowers in a labyrinthine pattern leading to a fountain in the center. Calum didn’t make any moves to let go of Luke’s hand, so he held it as they walked in looping circles through the flowers.

“You came to the ball just for fun?” Calum asked in disbelief.

“I wanted a chance to get out of my house,” Luke replied. All his fantasies about meeting the prince would have to stay dreams, he supposed, but he was still out in the garden with the closest thing to a handsome prince he was ever going to find, and handsome he definitely was.

“I know the feeling.”

“My stepbrothers are always so irritating, and neither of them has any qualities that girls would find attractive.”

“They’re ugly?” Calum snorted.

“On the inside.”

“Luckily you’re not. Inside or out.”

Luke smiled. “You’re sweet.” They sat on the edge of the fountain, watching the water ripple, and catching the reflection of the moon as it peeked out from behind the clouds.

The music inside changed into something slow and pretty, floating softly over the garden. Calum stood up, holding his hand out. Luke stared for a moment before taking his hand slowly, and Calum led them in an almost-waltz around the fountain, pressed closer together than any type of dance should have called for. Luke closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Calum’s with a soft smile on his face. The song ended and they stood there swaying until the clock tower started to chime.

Luke hadn’t been paying attention to the clock until now, but suddenly he was very aware of it. Michael words rang in his mind about everything turning back at midnight. He counted the chimes in his head as he scrambled to leave. Two.

“What’s wrong?” Calum asked.

“It’s midnight,” Luke said. Regardless of getting Bruno back home, it would take him nearly an hour to get back home on foot, and if he was going to beat his family back, he had to leave immediately. Five.

“So it is.” Calum looked up at the clock tower. “But where are you running?”

“I have to go,” Luke said. Eight.

“No, please, wait!” Calum took his hand and it almost broke Luke’s heart to push him away.

“I can’t!” Ten.

Luke rushed out through the garden – pausing for a moment when he got his foot stuck on a tree root and deciding to leave his shoe behind – and to the front of the palace, where there was a pumpkin sitting on the ground, and a confused Bruno sitting next to it. The bird must have flown off. Luke whistled at Bruno and the dog followed him as he ran down the drive, clothes turning back to normal right as he passed the gate. He glanced back just for a second to make sure Calum wasn’t following him, and when he wasn’t, Luke tore down the road, not worried about anything other than getting home before the other carriages started leaving.

He made it home before his family did, noticing halfway there that his other shoe had stayed glittery silver even if the rest of his clothes had gone back to normal. He sent a silent thank you up to wherever Michael was and spent the rest of the night spinning around his room, feeling the shadows of Calum’s hands on his until the moment was shattered by his family coming home and demanding his attention.

Calum tried to run after him but as soon as he got to the garden gate, the guardsmen stopped him. “You can’t go out there alone at this time of night.”

“Fine!” Calum said. He didn’t have time to argue. “But someone has to stop him!”

“What did he do?” One of the other guards took a stance like he was ready to run but the one he was speaking to held up a hand to stop him.

“He- nothing I guess, but I wasn’t done talking to him.”

“Your Highness, we can’t send guards out after a boy for no reason when half the kingdom is here at the palace. You see why it’s a safety concern.”

“Yes.” Calum stepped back inside and stared out into the darkness dejectedly. It was too late to close the main gates. He decided to forego the rest of the ball. It would be over soon and no one would notice if he wasn’t there. His sister would no doubt give him updates on what happened as soon as she could anyway. Pushing his door open slowly, he didn’t even bother taking off his shoes before he fell forward onto his bed.

“Is everything okay?” someone asked, knocking on the open door.

Calum looked up. Ashton, son of one of his father’s councilmen and probably his oldest friend, was standing at the door, looking concerned. “Yeah, fine.”

“Your sister said she hadn’t seen you in a couple hours, and then I heard some guards talking about you.”

“I was outside for a while,” Calum said. “Tired from the ball.”

“I’m sure you were fighting off as many ‘eligible young men’ as she was,” Ashton teased, and Calum smiled a little.

“Not exactly.”

“Who’s the guy you were running after?” Ashton asked.

“Just someone I met.” Ashton smiled at him encouragingly. “He was nice, we talked, we danced, and then he said he had to go because it was midnight.”

“I wonder what happened at midnight.”

“I don’t know, and they said they can’t send anyone after him.”

“What if I went after him?”

“You’d do that?” Calum asked.

“Of course,” Ashton said, not missing a beat. “What does he look like?”

“He’s got blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“What’s his name?”

Calum didn’t know. He didn’t realize until the midnight bell started chasing him away that he’d never gotten his name.

“I’m not judging you for forgetting…” Ashton said, implying that he was.

“He never told me!” Calum said defensively.

“He ran out from the garden?”

Calum nodded.

“Then let me go investigate and I’ll tell you if I find anything.”

Ashton returned the next morning with a shoe, shiny and silver. “Do you think it was his?”

“It would match what he was wearing,” Calum replied. It was as close to a lead as they had.

Luke’s life the next day went on as if nothing had happened the night before. His stepmother was none the wiser that he’d been to the ball, and his stepbrothers were too busy making fun of each other for not being impressive enough in front of the princess to waste any time making fun of him. He went about his chores, trying not to think about the magic of the night before, or of Calum dancing with him in the moonlight.

“Luke!” his stepmother called. He stepped out of the kitchen to see her on the stairs. “Where are Ben and Jack?”

“They’re still asleep,” he said, and she sighed and raced up the stairs, calling back to him to bring their breakfast trays up quickly.

She was still trying to get Jack to wake up by the time Luke showed up at his bedroom door. Ben was standing beside her, looking sleepy. “Get up!” She started shaking his bed.

“What?” he groaned.

“Sir Ashton is on his way here!”

“Who’ssat?”

“One of the king’s men! He’s looking for someone who was at the ball last night, and I will not have him overlook the two of you because you’re too lazy to get out of bed.”

“Who’s he looking for?” Ben asked.

“Someone who fits a silver shoe that was left behind at the ball. The one who fits is to be taken to the palace to meet the king.” Luke’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t spoken to the princess though, why were they looking for him?

“Neither of us lost a shoe,” Jack said.

“They don’t know that, and if the shoe fits either of you, they never will. You two will make yourselves presentable for him immediately.” She pushed the door open into Luke, who lost balance of the two trays in his hands. Both trays crashed to the ground. “Clumsy boy! Clean all that up and then bring them a proper breakfast!”

Luke nodded, kneeling to the floor to gather all the broken dishes. He went back into the kitchen, wondering who was looking for him, when it clicked. Calum? Like the prince? He had been speaking to the prince the whole time? In that case, he might as well forget his stepbrothers’ breakfasts. He had to look more decent than a scullery maid. He walked back up to his room in a bit of a daze, past the bathroom where his stepbrothers were squabbling over some nonsense or other. He didn’t notice his stepmother watching him with a glare until she slammed his door shut behind him. “What are you doing?” Luke called through the door.

“If you can’t do as you’re told, you can stay in there all day!” she yelled. Luke heard the door lock from the outside, and no amount of pulling at the door handle was helping. He couldn’t possibly get back to Calum if he couldn’t even get out of his room. Never mind the fact that his family wouldn’t be able to eat without him, but that would be their own fault. Once again, Luke was on his floor, opening the chest to see the other shoe, a glittery reminder of what he almost had. “Michael?” he halfheartedly called out. He didn’t expect his fairy godparent to show up to help him more than once. The front door chimed and he scrambled to his feet to hear what was being said.

“May I present my sons?” his stepmother was saying. Ben and Jack were probably trying their hardest to be charming, and he hoped the visitor was unamused. Luke went to his dresser and started digging for anything small enough to poke into the lock to try and pick it open. If he was downstairs he could find tools maybe or… a nail? He hardly had time to keep up with fixing the furniture throughout the house to bother with his own. He ran a hand over all the corners and joints of his dresser, and then his bedframe before finding a nail that was loose enough to pull out with just his fingers. He ran back to the door and pressed his ear to it.

It sounded like his stepbrothers were fighting to try on the shoe, and then their mother chastising them and apologizing to the man for their behavior.

Luke stuck the nail in the lock and jiggled it around to try and grab onto the latch to unlock it. He felt it catch and very carefully tried to pull it up. It made a soft clicking sound, and when Luke tugged on the door, it opened. He grabbed his other silver shoe and started to run down the stairs.

“Get your fat foot out of the shoe, it obviously doesn’t fit!”

“Oh like your weirdly tiny mouse feet will fit? Look at them!”

Jack tried to pull the shoe out of Ben’s hands, and Ben pulled back, and then there was a terrible ripping sound, and they were each holding half a shoe.

“It was his fault!” Jack said immediately, shoving his half into Ben’s arms.

“I’m terribly sorry for this,” their mother said.

Ashton looked on in mild horror as the bickering continued. “Who’s that?” he asked, seeing Luke standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Luke’s stepmother glared at him. “Just our servant boy, don’t mind him,” she said, feigning propriety.

“No,” Luke protested.

“Do not interrupt us, Luke.”

“But I was at the ball!” Luke saw Ashton’s expression change from bored to interested.

“Nonsense,” his stepmother said. “In any case, the shoe to be tried on no longer exists in any useful manner.” She frowned at her sons, who finally found some semblance of shame.

“We can still hold it together and see if it fits?” Ashton suggested, eyes still on Luke.

“You don’t have to, I have the other one.” Luke pulled it out from where he’d been holding it behind his back.

Everyone’s eyes doubled in size. Ashton luckily grabbed it before Ben or Jack could make the leap for it. “This is exactly the same as the other one.”

“That’s preposterous,” his stepmother said.

“Does it fit?” Ashton asked. Luke nodded. Ashton knelt down and slipped the shoe on his foot.

“But that’s impossible!” Ben shouted. “He wasn’t even there! Mother made sure of it!”

Ashton stood back up, smiling. “And you’ve got the blue eyes to match.”

Luke could only stare at him as his stepbrothers continued to yell.

It had been nearly a full day since Ashton had left, and Mali had already swept through his room gushing about the most perfect man she’d met last night. Needless to say, their father was over the moon excited about a wedding (finally). Calum was beginning to lose hope that one shoe could find anyone out of a whole kingdom, and what happened if it fit a lot of people? What if Ashton came back with a small army of people with the same size feet? Luckily Ashton returned to his room before he had enough time to overthink. The owner of the shoe was named Luke, he learned, and they had a good laugh about how Luke hadn’t realized Calum was the prince by the time Calum got around to asking him to stay for his sister’s wedding.

After that, the king was so excited about both his children finding love that Luke never went back home. His stepbrothers eventually grew out of their irritating habits, but his stepmother’s heart stayed cold. Luke and Calum stayed at the palace, and they lived in love happily ever after.


End file.
